Sunday, April 9, 2017

Vatican City (kath.net/KAP) According to Italian media reports, a high-ranking Swiss employee in the Vatican has been dismissed by the personal intervention of Pope Francis. It was Eugene Hasler, secretary of Bishop Fernando Vergez Alzaga, the second man in the Governorate of the Vatican, onlinemedia reported on Thursday. The motive for the unusual papal intervention was to be internal tensions. Hasler appears to have an authoritarian style. The layman Eugene Hasler is the son of the former major of the Swiss Guard, Peter Hasler. His father served 42 years in the papal guard.

The Vatican confirmed Hasler's departure. Greg Burke did not want to comment on the circumstances. Hasler has not been working in the Vatican for a week, says Burke. Hasler's mother Maria Michela Petti, according to the reports, said that her son had not yet received a letter of dismissal.

The governor is responsible for the infrastructure of the Vatican, from the post office to the nursery. It is often referred to as the government of the smallest state in the world. At the top is the Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello. The Spanish Bishop Vergez, the immediate superior of Hasler, as general secretary, is a sort of deputy head of government.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has appointed Lieutenant Colonel Christoph Graf as the new commander of the Pontifical Swiss Guard. Graf joined the military unit in 1987. He replaces Colonel takes the place of Colonel Daniel Anrig, who retired last month, and had been commander since 2008. For over 500 years, the 110-man unit has been responsible for the safety of the Pope, including the security of the Apostolic Palace.

Friday, January 30, 2015

(Rome) For months, there have been rumors that the Argentine Pope could abolish the Pontifical Swiss Guard. In recent days, the speculation has intensified. This is due to the dismissal of Colonel Daniel Rudolf Anrig, commander of the Swiss Guard. On December 1, 2014 Pope Francis had fired Anrig a native of the canton of St. Gallen. Reasons were not disclosed. The media claimed that it could have been due to the "severity" of the colonel who commanded the papal guard unit since 2008. Daniel Rudolf Anrig will be officially dismissed as part of a military ceremony tomorrow.

The fact that Pope Francis has appointed no successor has fueled speculation about the dismissal of the Papal Guard. In an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nacion, the Pope spoke highly of the dismissed Colonel Anrig. He was a "great person, a good Catholic, with a beautiful family." His dismissal was merely concerned with a "healthy and normal renewal," said the head of the Church. Since then there has been puzzling over what Pope Francis mean by a "healthy and normal renewal".

Quirky gestures, telegenic looseness or ...

Pope salutes Guards

In Rome, it is an open secret that the Argentine Pope knows little what to do with the tradition of the Swiss Guards Corps. Because of quirky gestures it has been speculated that the Pope has little respect for order and work of other show. Once he saluted one guard, as US Presidents are wont to do. So it seems inappropriate when a civilian performs a military salute, as well as the doubt creating the suggestion around the papal scene whether the Pope maybe just made a joke. Another time he went in passing a Guard and shook his hand. The young man laughed sheepishly on the out-of protocol gesture in camera flashes. The protocol was not the focus. The Pope had sufficient opportunity to go off the TV cameras to his guards.

Some observers see in Jorge Mario Bergoglio's phenomenal sense of pleasing and being prone to the media as the surest guarantee of the continued existence of the 500-year-old guard. They are telegenic and strikingly colorful because of the old uniforms, so they will not be dismissed by the Pope. That the announcement of Colonel Anrig's dismissal was carried out during the ad limina-visit of the Swiss Bishops speaks for others against this assumption. A mere courtesy toward the Swiss bishops does not fit.

Protecting the Pope Since 1506

Swearing-in of recruits

The Swiss Guard was established in 1506. Since then it has monitored the Pope and the Apostolic residences for their protection. It is the only guard from the Papal States, which has been preserved. Most military corps went down with the Papal States in 1870. The enduring guards, such as the Noble Guard and the Palatine Guard were simultaneously disbanded by Pope Paul VI. with the liturgical reform in 1970.

The Pontifical Swiss Guard is not a guard of Vatican City or the Church, but a bodyguard of the Pope. They agree to defend the integrity of the Pope with their lives. While the See is vacant, the guards have to ensure the safe conduct of the conclave as a new pope is enthroned. It is exclusively of Catholic Swiss nationals who have already done their military service in Switzerland and must not be older than 30 on entering and must be single.

Once there were numerous Swiss Guards of the militarily efficient germanic mountain people. Thus the King of France had a bodyguard of Swiss and also the Roman-German Emperor in Vienna, which is recalled in the Schweizertor the Hofburg. The Papal Swiss Guard is the only one that still exists today and is one of the most traditional military organizations in the world.

A year ago when Anrig's predecessor, Colonel Elmar Mader, retired, he caused a stir when he spoke of the existence of a homosexual "secret society" at the Vatican, which constitutes a "security risk".

To date, there is only speculation and the familiar shooting in the weeds. Remarkable it is that it could ever come to such speculation. This has to do with certain known signals and especially with a perceived climate.

Friday, December 26, 2014

The campaign was launched by the Guard sympathizers and former guardsmen, who fear Pope Francis wants to abolish the Swiss Guard - The initiative aims to "invite the Pope to make a commitment to Swiss Guard"

Zurich-Vatican City (kath.net/KAP) A petition to Pope Francis should be encouraged to maintain the Swiss Guard. This was reported by "Vatican Radio" on Sunday. The initiative, launched by the Guard sympathizers and former guardsmen began on Saturday. "We want to ask the Pope to make a commitment to the Swiss Guard", said the Swiss organizer Walter Gabriel, according to media reports. The future of the guard is something that the organizers have at heart, who fear Pope Francis may want to abolish the Guard.

Speculation about a reform or even the end of the Swiss Guard had arisen after the dismissal of the previous commander Daniel Anrig in early December. The Swiss Guard has been protecting the Pope and his palace since 1506. Today, the protection force has a nominal strength of 110 men and is responsible for the personal protection of the Pope and for the security of the entrances to the Vatican. Most recruits undertake a two-year service period these days.

Born in 1972 in Walenstadt in the canton of St. Gallen and raised in Sargans, Anrig was from 1992-1994 a Hellebardier in the Guard. After a law degree, which also included the canon law, he entered the cantonal police in Glarus, where he most recently held the rank of commander. In August 2008, he was called by Pope Benedict XVI. and appointed to succeed Elmar Mäder.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Edit: Today, the Swiss Guard introduces 30 new recruits into its ranks who are swearing their oath to the Holy Father. They are from all parts of Switzerland, some speaking French, Italian and German.

The oath takes place every year on May 6th, in remembrance of the "Sack of Rome" in 1527. It was then that 147 Swiss soldiers fell defending Pope Clemens VII. Today they are counted as the "smallest army in the world." It was their valor and that of their leader, Captain Röist, who fell, even as his wife looked on, which gave the Pope time to escape to down the Borgo, a secret passageway, to the Castel Sant'Angelo and to be safe for a time from the depredations of Charles V's Lutheran and Spanish soldiery.

They also valiantly defended the Pope on September 20th, 1870, when the Masonic armies of Italian unification breached the walls of Rome.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

(Vatican) The gay lobby outside and inside the Vatican is getting the headlines again. On 6 June 2013 it was Pope Francis himself who spoke of a homo-lobby in the Vatican. Now it is the retired Colonel Elmar Mäder, who was the commander of the Swiss Guard from 2002 to 2008.

In June of the previous year Pope Francis received the board members of the Latin American and Caribbean Conference of Religious CLAR in audience. From participants a memory log of the Pope's statements was published subsequently without consultation.

"And, yes .. it is difficult. In the curia there are also holy men, really, there are holy people. There is talk of a gay lobby, and it's true, it's there ... We have to see what we can do. Pray for me ... that I should make as few mistakes as possible. "

"Homo network in the Vatican"

Last Sunday the article appeared in the weekly newspaper Switzerland on Sunday, "Ex-Guard Chief Warns of a Secret Society." This contained the published testimony of the former Guards Commandant Elmar Mäder. The 51-year-old Mäder knows the Vatica very well. Initially he was four years from 1998, the Vice-Commander, then six years commander of the Swiss Guard. The scandal and horror stories that are often told about the Vatican, he denied: these "cock and bull stories obviously lack any factual basis." The existence of a homo-lobby in the Vatican, he does not deny, however: "The claim that there is a gay network, I can not refute. My experience speaks for the existence of such."

From Mäder is said that he expressly warned his young guards against certain clergy and intervened against homo-machinations directly and in writing to the Curia. This had contributed to his departure as a commander.[!]

"To work in an environment where the large majority of men are unmarried is, per se, a magnet for homosexuals, whether they seek consciously or unconsciously to follow an urge," said Switzerland on Sunday citing the Colonel. "The Roman Curia is certainly the type of such an environment. Just as it comes as little surprise that pedophiles can be found in many environments with children such as schools or sports clubs," says Maeder.

"Gay Lobby" as a "Secret Society"

The former Guard Commander sees the existence of the homo lobby in the Vatican as a danger to the security of the Pope. "I have also learned that many homosexuals tend to be more loyal to each other than to other persons or institutions. If this loyalty goes so far that it is a network or even a kind of secret society, I would not tolerate it in my area of responsibility. In the Vatican, people who make decisions now seem to think alike."

Had Pope Francis spoken of a "gay lobby", Colonel Mäder speaks of a homosexual "secret society".

Maeder's statements are consistent with those of a former Swiss guard in the previous week in Switzerland on Sunday of having reported experiencing personally overtures by a representative of the State Secretariat and a Cardinal years ago.

The spokesman of the Swiss Guard, Urs Breitenmoser, tried to smooth the waves in a first reaction after Mäder's statements: "votes on a homo-network in the Vatican are not our problem. The concerns of our men are exclusively of a religious and military nature. "

Round-Up of Aberrosexual-associations Against Colonel Mäder

Mäder's statements caused homo-associations to a gather in a sweeping blow to the plan, they polemicized against the former Guards Commander. Except for provocations and propaganda, however, little was heard. In a flood of words, the homosexuals categorically stifled all objections as victims of "homophobes". The Chairman of the homo-association Equality compared Mäder's statements about homosexuals to the Nazi persecution of Jews and accused Mäder of being "homophobic" like Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

The key question remains: What's with this gay lobby in the Vatican itself? Their existence was confirmed by the words of Pope Francis from the highest authority. Colonel Mäder speaks of a "danger" and "security risk".

Just a few days after the encounter with the CLAR representatives Pope Francis appointed Msgr. Battista Ricca, the Director of the guest house Santa Marta, his personal representative and House Prelate of the Vatican bank IOR. The pederastic [One of his victims was an underage prostitute. This is invariably overlooked.] past of the Monsignor was uncovered by Sandro Magister. Nevertheless, Pope Francis never wavered on the appointment.

But there were more problems for Ricca when he was attacked in a cruising ground that year, and soon after firemen had to rescue him from a broken lift, in which he was trapped with a youth [!] known by local police. The weekly news magazine L’Espresso claims that Msgr Ricca was able to get the position as IoR prelate because the supposedly powerful “gay lobby” in the Vatican airbrushed his colourful CV.

On the flight back from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro Pope Francis was asked about his statement about the existence of a homo-lobby. The Pope then tried to downplay his statement without taking it back. He differentiated between homosexuals and the lobby. Among the homosexuals, it fell apparently to refer to Msgr Ricca, without mentioning him by name, with the controversial sentence: "Who am I to judge him." The gay lobby, however, he condemned. However, only because it was a lobby since the formation of lobbies is "always bad".

When visiting the Salesian parish of Sacred Heart in Rome Pope Francis assured on Sunday: "He will also forgive sins even those which it would require trucks to transport them. But if we do not call the wounds by name, they can not heal. "

Monday, May 6, 2013

The Saddest Memorial for the Fairest
and Bravest Flower of Swiss Manhood

Edit: tradition endures through the ages as they stand watch on the ramparts of the Vatican. The Swiss Guards have a long and illustrious battle history, whether it was dying to the man defending the King of France during the French Revolution, fighting to hold Lutheran Landskenechts back long enough for the Pope to escape, or keeping the revolutionary mob from laying hands on Pius IX, they’ve loyally and ever acquitted themselves valiantly in the defense of the Church and the anointed heads of kings.
Today, they will swear their oath to a grateful Pope Francis.

Each year on May 6th, the Swiss Guard commemorates the sacrifice of 147 soldiers who died defending Pope Clement VII during the “Sack of Rome,” in 1527. Here’s the oath they swear:

"I swear I will faithfully, loyally and honourably serve the Supreme Pontiff Francis and his legitimate successors, and also dedicate myself to them with all my strength, sacrificing if necessary also my life to defend them. I assume this same commitment with regard to the Sacred College of Cardinals whenever the See is vacant.

Furthermore I promise to the Commanding Captain and my other superiors, respect, fidelity and obedience. This I swear! May God and our Holy Patrons assist me!”

Then one by one the new recruits are called by name. Each one advances alone, and with his left hand he grasps the Guarďs standard, holding high his right hand with three fingers open, as a symbol of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he confirms the oath:

"I, . . ., swear I will observe faithfully, loyally and honourably all that has now been read out to me! May God and his saints assist me!”

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Editor David Berger is up to no good. Since trying to ride the sex abuse scandal on anti-Church magazine Der Spiegel for all it's worth, he's now taken to attacking the Pope. Cardinal Meisner does nothing.

The homosexually disordered David Berger spits poison and gall in the ecclesiastical pot from which he eats. Cardinal Meisner isn't bothered in the least.

(kreuz.net) The scatological-theological plump-plump of David Berger, who's still employed by the Archdiocese of Cologne, has broken off again.

He is bad mouthing the Pope for a dirty magazine known as "Fresh".

The laughable little devotional book says that Berger is to be congratulated for being a "high Church functionary".

The homosexual Berger is "in and out of the Vatican" -- insists this magazine.

The garbage theologian serves the magazine with his fantasizes about a supposed "inner life of the Catholic Church".

In reality Berger's insider knowledge, which he has put in a still-born smear novel already, doesn't exceed the level of the readers' opinions at 'kreuz.net', the largest Catholic news portal throughout all of Europe. [shameless plug]

He recalled for 'Fresh' his participation in a march, where he says he freely and finally let everyone know about his homosexual disorder.

That wasn't what happened. Bergers holy sheen was revealed by 'kreuz.net'. [he was dumb enough or indifferent enough to publish his activities on Facebook]

The Usual Unproven Suggestions

The magazine did not ask Berger the not unfair question, why the Pope offered his "thoughts about Homosexual Prostitutes".

Berger answered that he finds the Pope's insinuated ideas "completely fantastic", that a prostitute in the Vatican would call the Vatican and ask if he could use a condom.

In another context Berger could have said that the sexual disease of AIDS is so furiously spreading is because the Vatican forbids condoms.

Then Berger projects -- as is usual with him -- his sexual disturbances, this time on the Pope.

This one supposedly has himself "a permanent fixation on the theme of homosexuality".

In truth the present Pontifex never brings up the theme in his personal work.

Worthy Initiative

Purpose

This is a polemical Catholic Royalist blog. It will also attempt to provide a window onto various events, situations and personalities not generally or favorably presented to the purview of the general public in the English speaking world. It also hopes to be a bridge for those who wish to cross over, unite and fight for the truth.